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Israel to withhold PA taxes, quietly ask donors to make up difference

Israel intends to cut tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority but will need foreign intervention to save the Palestinian Authority from collapse.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) during the funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, Sept. 30, 2016. — Amos Ben Gershom/Government Press Office/REUTERS

Israel has come up with a strange tactic: Imposing or supporting economic sanctions against the Palestinians, downplaying or ignoring the effects and then asking other countries to help save it from the repercussions just as they are about to blow up in its face.

With elections coming up April 9, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave in to right-wing demands and on Feb. 17 presented his security cabinet with a plan to implement the so-called deduction law starting this month. Under the “pay to slay” law, adopted by the Knesset in July 2018, Israel will withhold duties it collects for the Palestinian Authority to offset the stipends the PA pays to Palestinian assailants who attack Jews and are imprisoned in Israel or to their families. The decision means an Israeli freeze of some 500 million shekels ($138 million) in customs and other taxes it collects for the PA under the terms of the 1994 Paris Protocol.

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